Archive for the 'Alberto Callaspo' Tag Under 'Angels' Category

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said that Kohn is expected to arrive Monday afternoon and be available for the night's interleague series opener against the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.

“He has got a much more consistent delivery, much more consistent with his breaking ball, and he feels much better about where his game is now,” said Scioscia said of Kohn, who has a career record of 2-1, with a 2.52 ERA and one save in two chances.

“He's getting results, so hopefully it will be able to translate to coming up here.”

The move was made official after Alberto Callaspo's successful afternoon workout that determined that the third baseman, who has been nursing a sore left hamstring since June 11, will be available to return to the lineup as more than a pinch hitter.

Angels third baseman Alberto Callaspo, who was listed as day-to-day after pulling his left hamstring while attempting to steal second in the June 11 victory over Kansas City, was able to work out, hit from both sides, ran for about 85 percent and "feels good," according to Angels manager Mike Scioscia on Friday.

Scioscia is encouraged by the progress and believes that Callaspo won't have to go on the disabled list. Callaspo might event be to see limited action, such as getting in to pinch hit or play some defense, as soon as Saturday. He will not likely be available to start.

Having seen action in 62 games this season, Callaspo is batting .285 (fourth-best on the Angels), with 65 hits and the third-best on-base percentage (.358).

The Angels sent right-hander Kevin Jepsen back to Triple-A Salt Lake this morning and recalled infielder Andrew Romine. Romine will give them an infield reserve while they wait to see how bad Alberto Callaspo's hamstring injury is.

Callaspo came out of Saturday's game in the seventh inning after straining his left hamstring on the back end of a double steal. Rather than move him straight to the DL, Callaspo will be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum today and monitored over the next three or four days to see how quickly the hamstring heals.

It's the same approach the Angels used with Howie Kendrick three weeks ago -- and he wound up going to the DL retroactively.

"If we can absorb it (Callaspo's absence) for three or four days, we'll know which direction we're going," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "If he's going to be back in a week, we don't want to rush him onto the DL because we need his bat."

Callaspo has been one of the Angels' more productive hitters -- a .285 batting average and 28 RBI (third on the team). He could land on the DL later this week "if he isn't making significant progress in the next three or four days and it looks like it's going to be a 10-day to two-week thing," Scioscia said.

In a West Coast re-enactment of the Angels' soggy Boston marathon, the Angels lost 5-4 to the Oakland A's in 10 innings Monday night.

The game was delayed 85 minutes at the start due to rain and was played through showers in the late innings as well with a crowd that barely outnumbered the players once it reached extra innings.

The Angels were in position to win it in regulation after Howie Kendrick's two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning gave them a 4-3 lead. It was a rare clutch hit for the Angels who were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position in the game before Kendrick's hit on the heels of a 3-for-31 performance with RISP during their three-game series in Texas.

But that lead disappeared in the bottom of the ninth when closer Jordan Walden gave up a two-out single to Coco Crisp and Crisp stole second base on Walden and catcher Bobby Wilson. With the A's down to their last strike, Daric Barton stroked a 98-mph fastball from Walden on a 2-and-2 count into center field to tie the score.

The Angels rallied for three runs in the eighth inning Sunday afternoon to retrieve a lead they let get away and reclaim a 6-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

The victory was the 1,000th of Mike Scioscia's managerial career. He is one of only 23 managers in major-league history to win as many as 1,000 games with one team.

But Fernando Rodney almost delayed that milestone.

The Angels took a 3-2 lead with a three-run burst in the sixth inning against Indians starter Fausto Carmona. An error by third baseman Adam Everett extended the inning long enough for Alberto Callaspo to drive in two unearned runs with a double and Hank Conger another with an RBI single.

But Rodney couldn't protect that one-run lead in an eighth inning that featured three hits (none particularly hard-hit) and a hit batter.

The Angels went from eight runs on 17 hits in Friday's win to one run on seven hits in Saturday's extra-innings loss.

But it was a different disparity contained in those numbers that prompted Angels manager Mike Scioscia to shuffle his lineup for today's game against Rays right-hander Alex Cobb (making his major-league debut).

"Right now, we're doing great against left-handed pitching but really struggling against right-handed pitching," Scioscia said. "It's a bit of a creative lineup in some respects but we've got to try to find a little continuity against right-handed pitching."

Through the first 27 games of the season, the Angels are batting .309 with a .363 on-base percentage and .482 slugging percentage against left-handers but just .236/.298/.366 against right-handers.

So Scioscia moved the slumping Vernon Wells down to sixth in the order (the first time he has hit anywhere but fourth or fifth), moved Howie Kendrick (a career .454 hitter against the Rays) up to third for the first time this season with Torii Hunter (also slumping at .222) in the cleanup spot and Alberto Callaspo (.296 against right-handers and .404 on the road) batting fifth ahead of Wells.

The Angels pounded out 15 hits in a 15-4 victory over the Texas Rangers Tuesday night.

The 15 runs are the most the Angels have scored in a game since a 17-run outburst in Baltimore on August 16, 2009.

The 'final four' in the Angels' lineup -- Alberto Callaspo, Mark Trumbo, Hank Conger and Peter Bourjos -- combined to go 11 for 16 with two home runs (one each by Trumbo and Bourjos), two doubles (the same duo), three walks, 11 runs scored and 10 RBI.

Trumbo was 3 for 5 with four RBI. Bourjos was 4 for 5 with three runs scored and three driven in (his first career four-hit game). Callaspo reached base four times (two walks, two singles) and scored each time.

That was more than enough support for starter Matt Palmer who held the Rangers to one run on three hits and a walk in six innings. Palmer worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning, before the Angels' offense broke the game open.

Since I'm trying my best to be a glass-half-full, positive sort of guy this season, I saw a lot to like on the Angels trip beyond the 3-3 record.

OK, the bullpen wasn't that inspiring beyond Jordan Walden, but Kevin Jepsen seems to have got back on track his past two outings.

The starting pitching, beyond the one spot where I had low expectations (and wasn't disappointed), was excellent. The only thing that seems to be holding them back is Mike Scioscia, and I can understand his concern with one starter down and a hole in the rotation already.

The manager also seems to be preserving Hank Conger, but the one time he let him out of the dugout, the kid delivered.

But I'll let you decide which was the most pleasing development from the Angels' visit to Kansas City and Tampa Bay -- although I certainly think they picked the right time to run into the Rays, who seem to have lost their offense.

With a night game today and an early start Saturday (12:10 p.m. locally), Angels manager Mike Scioscia decided to give Maicer Izturis the day off and start Alberto Callaspo at third base against Royals left-hander Jeff Francis.

Take two things from that -- Scioscia is going to be careful with the injury-prone Izturis and, at the same time, he wants to get Callaspo frequent playing time.

"Izzy -- we need him in there a lot and we need to keep him fresh," Scioscia said. "There are going to be times when we'll pick our spots with him and tonight's a good night to do that."

There are no clear signs that it is a righty-lefty thing for the two switch-hitters. Callaspo has been a better right-handed hitter than Izturis (a .306 batting average and .758 OPS to Izturis' .264 and .695). Izturis holds an edge left-handed (a .278 average and .740 OPS to Callaspo's .269 and .708), the side from which both have had a lot more at-bats.

"I think they're both pretty good on both sides," Scioscia said. "Sure, they've hit some dry spells from the right side because they don't get to swing it right-handed as much. That's the tougher swing to maintain (as a switch-hitter) because you don't see as many left-handed pitchers.

Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo said the tightness in a groin muscle was feeling much better this afternoon after a night and morning of treatment. Trumbo left Wednesday's game in the third inning after feeling the discomfort while running out a ground ball in his only at-bat.

"I took some (muscle-stimulating) equipment home last night and it felt great this morning," he said. "Just got a good round of treatment on it and all the range of motion is back."

But Trumbo will be held out of games for the next three or four days as a precaution, according to Angels manager Mike Scioscia.

"He's played a lot. It wouldn't hurt him to take a little blow," Scioscia said.

With Trumbo down and Kendrys Morales still not ready to play in games, the Angels will "see where our depth is at first base and try and create some," Scioscia said. Bobby Wilson, Brandon Wood and Howie Kendrick could see time there in the next few days.